New Testament Reading Plan: James 1-3
SCRIPTURE READING
Matt 1:20-21 20But as he [Joseph] considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your
wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a son, and you
shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (ESV)
When asked the question; “What are we saved from?” most Christians would answer “Hell”
or “God’s wrath and judgement” and they would certainly be right. Hell and God’s wrath are
two important things which Grace saves us from – but they are not the only things. In fact,
they’re not even the main thing; the Bible tells us that being saved from hell and wrath is
a by-product of being saved from something else. In Matt 1:20-21, the angel tells Joseph
what the main purpose of Jesus first coming – “to save his people from their sins”. Jesus
came to save us from the cause, not the effect. Hell and God’s wrath is the effect, not the
cause. Sin is the reason people have to go to hell and suffer God’s wrath. Sin is the cause.
Jesus came to save us from the root problem facing mankind which is sin. Many people are
only concerned about avoiding hell, in fact, many people overemphasis hell as the problem
when the actual problem is sin. It is extremely important that we understand this because
Jesus will not save us from the effects of sin unless we’re on the narrow path of being saved
from the cause which is sin itself. We need to change the FOCUS of the Christian life;
we need to stop thinking of salvation primarily as being saved from a PLACE (Hell) in the
FUTURE, to being saved from a LIFESTYLE in the PRESENT.
PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Spend some time worshipping Jesus for being our Saviour, for saving us from the
‘cause’, from the root problem, from saving us from sin!
2. Pray that many people would see that Jesus came to save them from a sinful lifestyle.
Pray that more people would receive healing and deliverance from strongholds in their
lives. Pray that as a church, we would be known for our righteousness.
